Oas Official Angrily Leaves Peru Before Runoff

Monitor Says Nation's Election Process Is Far From `Free And Fair'

May 27, 2000|By New York Times News Service.

LIMA, Peru — Charging that he had been deceived by Peruvian officials, the head of the Organization of American States' observation team angrily left Peru on Friday, two days before the presidential runoff election that he was supposed to monitor to prevent voting fraud.

"The conditions of the election do not provide a strong basis of legitimacy," said the OAS official, Eduardo Stein, who was the senior foreign observer of an election process that had been tainted with charges of dirty tricks and vote fraud. "I feel deceived and disappointed."

Stein's views will be crucial as the regional organization he represents and the Clinton administration and the U.S. Congress consider applying economic sanctions against the government of President Alberto Fujimori.

In a report released late Thursday, after the government's announcement that it would not postpone Sunday's runoff, Stein's team offered a stinging rebuke to Peru.

"The Peruvian electoral process is far from one that could be considered free and fair," the observation team said.

The team then ordered its election observers to withdraw from the provinces and leave Peru.

Fujimori, seeking election to a third five-year term, got a huge boost when his opponent, Alejandro Toledo, dropped out of the race last week, claiming that he was not ready to enter "a butcher shop" of fraud in a fixed election.

But Stein, with the full backing of the Clinton administration, attempted to mediate a solution between Toledo and the government in which the election could be postponed so that foreign observers would have ample time to test computer software to make sure the vote count would be transparent and clean.

Stein, a former foreign minister of Guatemala, led the international criticism of the April 9 first-round vote, saying "Something sinister is happening here" as ballots and tally sheets disappeared for hours without explanation and votes were counted in undisclosed locations.

Fujimori fell just short of winning an outright majority victory in the first round, according to an official tabulation made over three days as the United States and other countries pressed for a runoff.

Ever since the first round, Stein has been trying to persuade the government to stop spending public funds in the Fujimori campaign and to open television networks to coverage of the opposition. He has had only limited success.

But over the last couple of days, Stein had expressed new optimism that an agreement could be worked out, with a new election date to be set on June 4 or some weeks later. Negotiations had reached the level where Fujimori was talking directly by telephone with Cesar Gaviria, the head of the OAS and a former president of Colombia, according to Peruvian officials.

Stein said he had strong indications as late as midday Thursday that the Peruvian government would postpone the election, and was shocked by the news in the afternoon that the National Election Board had voted 3-2 against a postponement.

"We were led to believe that there was going to be a favorable outcome," he said.

The decision was met with an increase in violent demonstrations across Peru, including an attack with rocks and gasoline bombs on the presidential palace late Thursday. Student and labor groups are planning demonstrations and strikes to protest the election.

In a television interview Friday, Fujimori brushed aside Stein's complaints. "Globalization does not mean there can be unlimited intervention in a country's internal affairs," he said. "The software problems have been resolved. There will be no fraud."

President Clinton responded Friday to the news from Peru, saying, "Free, fair and open elections are the foundation of a democratic society. Without them, our relationship with Peru inevitably will be affected."